


Day 23: Celebration

by AQ110



Series: Klancetober [23]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Past Child Abuse, References to Depression, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 04:32:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16485986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AQ110/pseuds/AQ110
Summary: For as long as Keith could remember, a 'birthday' was a sad occasion.Part 23 of 31 for @ikimaru's (Instagram) Klancetober!Each part has a chance to have another chapter or a full fledged story afterwords, so please leave a comment if you want more and I will have regular updates once October ends!





	Day 23: Celebration

**Author's Note:**

> This one is VERY Keith centered. Lance won't show up until the last paragraph or so.

**Day 23: Celebration**

 

Alone. That’s how Keith always spent his ‘special’ day. It’s October 23rd. In other words, his birthday.

The normally happy feelings associated with that word just don't seem to apply to Keith. His feelings could be described as  _ grey. _ A sad blandness that leaves more to be desired, but nothing changes because nothing  _ can  _ change.

The first birthday he remembers is from when he was five. It was only a blur of images, fragments his mind deemed important. A small, quiet house. His fathers pained expression every time he looked at the three year old. The silver lock on his bedroom door. And the stars that seemed to shine brighter that night.

The next one was at age ten. It was just barely a week since his father didn’t return home. A week of confusion and sadness as he was tossed around between groups of people in suits. Of seeing his father being put into the ground while he was pushed into a white van with little force. On his birthday he found himself on a home with so many other kids. All ages and sizes. Some hiding in corners, others fighting for toys and food. Keith hid under his bunk bed that night, clutching a small stuffed hippo to his chest.

Then he was in his second foster home, turning 11. George was drunk out of his mind in the room below his own. Bruises and tears littered Keith’s face as he curled into himself in the middle of the floor. He knew he deserved it, but it  _ hurt. _ Everything was sore and bruised, making it hard to even move his head. But he did. He turned and looked out of the small window of his tiny room. The stars were shining bright with a promise. Shining bright with a promise this mind couldn’t understand. Shining and mocking him with a brightness that doesn't make sense when Earth is so bleak.

Now he was in another home turning thirteen. This house was nice. The lady who took care of him was kind and patient, never getting mad when Keith was being rash or harsh. Always waiting on the flower printed sofa from him to come back so that they could watch a movie and have dinner together. Everything about her screamed kindness. She even took in all sorts of injured and abandoned animals that she found or was given. Her house was like a farm, they way creatures of all shapes and sizes ran around the house as if they were wild. But Keith loved it and despite everything, he felt himself getting attached to that house, those animals, and Rosie.

But life found a way to punch that light out too. In the end her kindness was her undoing. The day before his birthday, the first one Keith was excited about since he could remember, their house had a break in. Keith remembers every vivid detail of that night, engraved into his brain so that he would never forget the downfall of Rosie Herst.

Long, terrifying story short, the perp entered through their kitchen window. When Keith went to check it out, Rosie was already there. Negotiating with him to put the gun down and to just take what he needed. The authorities didn’t have to be called if he just calmed down. But he didn’t. As it would turn out, he hated kids because his ten year old daughter ran away from home with only a scribbled note on the table. When he saw Keith...well...Rosie took the bullet for him.

His thirteenth birthday was spent in court with bloodstained clothes and a lesson learned. Don’t be kind to others; you never know who could end up shooting you in the back.

The rest of his birthdays were forgotten, a bland mess of days that were uneventful and dull. Just him back at the orphanage with no one willing to take him in. That is, until age fifteen.

The teen was now at the Garrison upon Shiro’s request. And just like before with Rosie, he felt himself getting attached to his kindness. But this time, he kept himself guarded. Always there, but three feet away as to not get burned. Not again. And somehow, the universe wanted to prove him wrong yet again. Wanted to prove that he  _ was  _ attached to Shiro and that he  _ would  _ be a mess if Shiro were to vanish.

That day, Keith found himself alone in his dorm room. It was supposed to be a normal night. He just wanted to finish his essay and have it over and done with so that Shiro would be proud of him when he came home. But he didn’t. A flash of colored light appeared on his computer screen of a news broadcast. Kerberos had failed. Kerberos had failed due to  _ pilot error. _ Meaning that the Korean was alone again. He had lost another person to the stars that he was so desperately trying to reach. And there was nothing he could do about it.

A year later he found himself in the dessert, where his whole ordeal of a life began. It’s been months since he left the Galaxy Garrison for being a disciplinary case, trying to find the truth behind that fateful mission. But, even though there were no people for miles in every direction, he wasn’t alone. There was a pull in his chest, a light tugging. Something was out there, waiting. Every time the purple eyed boy thought about giving in, there would be a rumble that echoed throughout his body. Without fail, no matter how bad his head space got, it got him to snap back to the sick reality he lives in.

And now… he was alone again. In a sense at least. He found out that not only he wasn’t human, but he was  _ galra. _ The  _ one  _ species of alien that Voltron was supposed to fight because they were  _ monsters. _ They destroyed lives without remorse for more power. A bloodthirsty race after being exposed to too much quintessence that they couldn’t control. And he was  _ one of them. _

So where did that leave him? He was a mess of DNA that didn’t belong together. A messy combination between two different species that left him more confused than ever. He wasn’t human. His eyes were different, he was aggressive, he could access the blade. But he wasn’t galra either. He wasn’t tall, or purple, and he didn’t grow up with their morals.

Keith didn’t belong on earth because he was a disciplinary orphan with anger and trust issues. And when he finally,  _ finally,  _ escaped to the stars that he dreamed so much of doing, he didn’t belong there either. Voltron didn’t want him because he was an impulsive loner that was part galra as icing on the cake. He didn’t belong with the Blade because he didn’t match their speed and he just  _ couldn’t stick to  _ _protocol_.

But...here... in Lance’s arms as he hugged him because Shiro was gone  _ again _ , maybe in this tanned structer was where he belonged. At least, for now, this would be where he would call home.


End file.
